Warmth of A Touch
by Random-Minded
Summary: When he was six, Gaara befriended a girl living in an old, abandoned factory overnight and temporarily forgot that he was a weapon in his father's eyes. But, that's what Temari and Kankuro're there for. Future Konoha High parallel universe. Gaara/OC
1. Chapter 1

A/N Hello minna-san!! This is my very first attempt to write a Naruto fanfic, and I must say, I've fallen in love with the series! xD I've twisted the plot of some episodes a little so watch out for that. This is a Gaara/OC fic at the moment, but I'm planning to add more pairings in due time. :3 Perhaps a bit of Neji/Tenten, Shika/Tema and Naru/Hina maybe?Hmm.. I'm not sure yet myself, you'll have to wait and see. ;)

NOTE: The story starts out in Sunagakure, back when Gaara was still a kid. Konoha High parallel universe will be added in, and maybe, just maybe, some yaoi pairings (ahemKakaIruahemahem)

"words"  
'thoughts'

Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Masashi Kishimoto does.

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**"Even the Coldest ofHearts can Melt with the Warmth of a Single Touch..."- Anonymous  
Chapter One: Rendezvous **

Along the sand-filled streets of Sunagakure's local night market, a young boy hurriedly made his way through the busy crowd, towards a well-known stall selling medicinal herbs. He was a small boy, probably only six years of age, with short, messy, red hair and big, green eyes. He carried on one hand the directions his uncle had given to him, and a small pouch filled with some silver coins on the other. He made his way impatiently towards the stall and took out a few pieces of coins from his pouch before placing them on the wooden counter, surprising the stall's vendor.

"Give me your most effective ointment and a few bandages please." he said, smiling.

The vendor gulped upon realizing who the boy was and immediately scrambled about to gather the materials he had requested. He picked some herbs and roots and mashed them in a bowl before adding a few drops of water into it in a hurried manner. He then scooped the mixture into a bottle, grabbed a few bandages from his stall's mini-cabinet, and placed everything into a paperbag.

The boy unintentionally glared at him, making the poor vendor shake in fear. He then browsed through the displayed medicine, picked up a small jar of menthol cream and handed it to the vendor, who placed it into the bag as well.

"I-is there anything else you n-n-need, G-G-Gaara-sama?" the vendor stammered.

Six-year old Gaara shook his head sadly and looked at the vendor, who shook even more in fear as he handed the boy his purchase.

"Thank you." the boy said, handing over a few more silver coins to pay for the menthol cream.

The vendor made no motion to recieve the payment so Gaara gently placed the coins on the counter before jumping away from the stall. Passers-by who were watching them immediately ran over to help the vendor, who looked like he was about to faint from fear.

xoxoxoxoxo

As the night grew on, Gaara hurriedly jumped from rooftop to rooftop hugging his purchase to his chest and slowed down when he had reached his destination: a schoolmate's house.

Earlier that day, he had unintentionally injured some of the other kids at his school when they had refused to play ball with him; and he would have killed them accidentally if his uncle, Yashamaru,hadn't showed up to stop him in time.

He nervously walked over to the door and knocked three times before taking a few steps back. The residents of the house yelled at each other to answer the door and he gulped the moment the it opened, revealing one of the kids he had accidentally injured earlier that day. She was covered in scratches and band-aids, and her eyes widened when she saw Gaara standing at her doorway.

She glared at him, disgusted that he'd even have the nerve to show up at her house after what he had done to her and her playmates a few hours before.

"A-anou. . " he started, shyly offering the bag to her. "I-I'm really sorry about what happened earlier. . so I brought you some ointment and bandages. The ointment's said to be really effective in healing wounds, and-"

"Go away." the girl cut him off.

He stared at her, surprised.

"Go away." she repeated with venom dripping from her voice. Gaara swallowed hard and watched as the girl in front of him started shaking with rage.

"Didn't you hear me?!" she yelled, pushing him away. "I said _GO AWAY_! Don't come near me or my friends ever again! You're just going to kill us all! _You're nothing but a monster_!" she cried out loud with tears in her eyes.

Gaara fell back at her words and held back the tears that were threatening to fall from his own eyes when she slammed the door shut at his face. He heard the voices of the girl's parents asking her if she was okay and heard her yelling at him one more time to go away.

He slowly got back to his feet and jumped away with a heavy heart.

xoxoxoxoxo

In an abandoned factory located in downtown Sunagakure, a young girl cried out in fustration.

Her long, layered, black hair was messed up and her hands and legs were covered in deep scratches. Surrounding her were bits of tree barks, herbs, broken glass, some burnt petals, and a few cut-up leaves that were leaking out strange-smelling juices. She sat up with a huff and closed her big, chocolate-brown eyes as she thought hard on where her experiment could've gone wrong.

"Maybe I added too much Jojoba oils. . " she muttered.

She then sighed and stood up, wincing from the stinging pain from the cuts on her arms and legs. Her clothes were covered in dirt and sap, and she smelled like someone had dabbed different kinds of medicinal ingredients on her. Dark lines appeared over her head as she sniffed herself and looked dejectedly at the wasted ingredients around her.

"The experiment can wait; I really need to take a bath right now. . " she sighed.

Grabbing a towel and a change of clothes from one of the lockers in the next room, she set off towards the only bathroom that still had plumbing while humming a random tune. She turned on the showers and sighed in relief as the tensions in her sour muscles faded away. Her cuts started to sting from the contact with the soapy water and she realized that some of her other wounds were starting to bleed.

'Whoo boy, this is bad.' she thought to herself.

Baring the pain, she washed off the suds off her hair and body before drying herself carefully with a small towel. She then changed into an old dress that was faded in color and obviously unable to protect her from the cold nights in Sunagakure before making her way back to her experimentation scene to clean up.

xoxoxoxoxo

Gaara sniffed as he hugged his knees to his chest; the bag of medicine laying a few feet away from him. He looked over the desert horizon that was illuminated by the moon and rubbed a tear away from his eyes.

_"Don't come near me or my friends ever again! You're just going to kill us all! You're nothing but a monster!"_

The girl's words echoed in his mind, and remembering her enraged expression towards him made him flinch. He knew he should be angry at her for calling him a monster, though one really did live inside him, but he knew that being angry with her wouldn't solve anything.

He was still alone and unloved.

The reason why he felt so hurt was because she was the only girl who talked to him at school. Well, she really just asked to borrow his pencil for around two times, but at least she borrowed it from him. He thought they could be friends through that small act of sharing; and he blew that chance to become friends by unintentionally attacking her and her friends just because they didn't want to play ball with him.

How pathetic.

He lowered his head sadly and glanced at the bag next to him. He had used his most of his spendings on purchasing that medicine and now they weren't even going to be used. What a waste.

He then raised a hand, letting sand surround the bag, and was about to make a fist when he heard an explosion coming from the building next to the one he was in.

Curious, he stood up and jumped off to where he had heard the explosion come from, temporarily forgetting about the bag.

xoxoxoxoxo

The girl groaned and rubbed the aching spot on her head while wincing once more from the extra pain.

'Two failures in one night. This is too depressing. .' she sighed, getting up. 'I'm gonna have to take a bath again after this.'

She bent down to extinguish the flame from the alcohol lamp she had used and placed it into one of the cabinets. Her head was starting to get dizzy from the stench of burnt medicine mixtures so she decided to retire early for the night. Grabbing a large notebook and a pencil from her rucksack, she flipped over a couple of pages until she found a clean one; and in big, bold letters, she wrote: "NOTE TO SELF: NEVER ADD FIRE PETAL ESSENCES IN BOILING OINTMENT MIXTURES".

Satisfied, she returned the notebook and pencil into her rucksack and headed off towards her "bedroom", which was just a used-to-be storage room. While she was cleaning it up, she was lucky enough to find a small blanket and an old sofa mattress in one of the boxes, and they've served as her bed and cover over the past few weeks. Her stomach then grumbled, making her sigh once more.

"Kat-chan, I know you're hungry from eating nothing but single carrot slices for the past four days, but you've just ran out of carrots. Bare with yourself until tomorrow, okay?" she told herself while patting her stomach. Passing by the main entrance of the factory, she caugh sight of the moon outside and walked out of the building to stare at it.

"Okaasan, please, give me strength." she prayed silently. "I'm thankful that you've led me to this abandoned factory which has served as a temporary home for me, but I'll need some more strength to last for a few more hours without food. . "

Her stomach grumbled again and her face fell. She sighed and leaned against the wall a little bit too hard, making the wound on her head open.

'Oh no. Not good.'

She felt blood trickling from the stinging spot on her head and her stomach grumbled once more, making her mind dizzy. She could see that everything around her was beginning to blur, but before she blacked out, she managed to catch sight a flash of red.

xoxoxoxoxo

xoxoxoxoxo

xoxoxoxoxo

Brightness.

That was the first thing she saw when she had opened her eyes. . . . but it turned out that the brightness was just the moon shining above her.

"The moon's so lucky. . " she murmured to herself. "She just sits up there in the night sky and doesn't have to worry about getting injured or getting hungry or..."

"Or what?"

"...Or making any mistakes. All she has to do is to spin around up there while providing us with light during the night and everybody's happy; but for us humans, we have to work hard and go through a lot of hardships for who knows how long before we can actually make someone ha-. . . "

Gaara looked at her curiously with big, innocent eyes as she trailed off, waiting for her to continue with interest.

_-silence-_

"WHO ARE YOU?!" She screamed, quickly backing up on the opposite side of the rooftop.

Gaara, caught by surprise, fell back on his elbows and stared at her blankly before smiling at her.

"S-Subaku no Gaara. . " he said sadly. 'Here it comes. . .'

The girl noticed the sadness in his voice and was about to say something when she realized that her arms, her legs and the wound on her head were covered in bandages. There was no pain felt and she could smell something tasty nearby.

"D-did you do this?" she asked, motioning to all the bandages on her body.

Gaara, surprised that she hadn't reacted to his name, nodded shyly and showed her the ointment he had used.

One second she was on the other side of the rooftop and the next, she was kneeling right in front of him ogling at the contents of the ointment bottle with pure fascination in her eyes.

"This. . this is amazing! I don't feel any pain at all!" she exclaimed. "All the medicines sold here are made of natural ingredients, right? What's in this stuff? Healing herbs from the snow country? Medicinal fire oils from the fire country? Or is it a Sunagakure original?"

She looked up expectantly at Gaara, but the red-headed kid just stared at her, not knowing how to reply. It was the first time someone outside his family had ever talked to him so casually, and with more than five words.

"Umm. . " he started.

The girl blinked and realized that she had done something rather inappropriate towards a complete stranger.

"Oh! Gomen, gomen!" she laughed, embarrassed. "I get too excited when anything medicinal's involved."

Gaara closed his mouth and nodded slowly. That was the first time someone had apologized to him too, and he was starting to feel the same feeling he had felt when Yashamaru told him that he loved him (as an uncle xD).

The girl backed up a few steps and stood in front of him once more while extending out a bandaged hand. Gaara, who was still laying back on his elbows, just stared at it and looked up at her. He then took hold of her hand unsurely and gasped in surprise when she pulled him up to his feet. Still holding onto her hand as she smiled at him, he felt his heart leap for the first time, ... and it didn't hurt at all.

"I'm Kate from the Earth country, but I'd prefer it if you called me Kat-chan." She grinned, shaking their hands up and down warmly. "It's Subaku no Gaara, right?"

He nodded, eyes wide at her actions.

"Then Gaara-kun it is! Nice to meet you!" She smiled happily.

He stared at her in awe, then at their handshake, then back at her smiling face again. It was the first time anyone had ever smiled to him that way and meant it, and it was causing a new wave of emotion to fill up his heart. It felt. . . nice.

A smile unconsciously formed over Gaara's lips as he looked at the girl standing in front of him holding his hand.

"Nice.. Nice to meet you too, Kat-chan."

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A/N Was Gaara a bit OOC in this chapter? Well, he did have more innocence when he was younger. :o

R&R's please! :D


	2. Chapter 2

A/N Chapter 2's up! R&R's please! ^^

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**Chapter Two: Gentleness**

"This is dewiscious!" Kate exclaimed, digging in into the meal Gaara had brought for her. (While she was unconscious, he had gone back to the night market to buy some food and water (it was pretty obvious that she was malnourished after all) and had offered them to her after they'd introduced themselves at the rooftop.)

At the moment, they were sitting in the storage room/Kate's bedroom, watching said resident devour all of Sunagahoka's night market delicacies with tears of joy in her eyes.

"Sooo goooood..." she swallowed, a rosy color slowly coming back to her cheeks. Gaara smiled and looked at his surroundings while the girl in front of him ate her heart out.

The room they were in was relatively big with a single slide window on the wall opposite the door. There were a few shelves on left side which were filled with labeled jars of herbs, leaves, unidentifiable liquids and other kinds of powders. On the right wall was a small study desk and a huge, worn-out bulletin board covered with some notes, pages torn out from books and some pictures of flowers and plants that he'd never seen before. Right in the middle of the room, where they were sitting on, was an old sofa mattress and an equally old table cloth which he assumed was her bed.

Kate gulped down a bottle of 100% Orange juice and sighed a sigh of satisfaction when she'd finally finished her meal.

"You're a life saver, Gaara-kun. . " She smiled at him, thankful. "I could've died from hunger and blood loss if you hadn't come."

Gaara smiled shyly back at her in return and watched as she cleaned up her trash, dumping them into a trash can. He then glanced once more at his surroundings before innocently looking up at her.

"Ne. . Kat-chan. . " he started. "Do you live here?"

The girl looked up thoughtfully before sitting down.

"Well, technically yes." she replied. "For around three weeks now."

"All alone?"

"It's not so bad as long as I keep myself busy, which really isn't too hard to do." she grinned and looked pointed at the jars on the shelves. "The people who used to work here left behind all those plants and herbs that can still be used for making medicine. And it's a big waste, really. So, to kill time, I began experimenting with the ingredients to see if I could actually come up with different kinds of medicine to heal minor wounds, though some just ended up blowing up on my face..."

Gaara raised an eyebrow (if he had one..) at her the moment she stopped talking.

"Is medicine the only thing that interests you?" he asked curiously. "You were asking me about the ointment I used on you a while ago too."

"Of course!" she replied happily, surprising him a bit. "My dream is to become the greatest medical nin/pro-healer this world'll ever have!" (He could see a spark of fire in her eyes as she said this.)

"Some day," she continued, jumping to her feet. "I'll be able to heal any kind of pain there is in this world and save the lives of billions of people out there without charging them a thing! No one will have to bear pain or suffer any injuries as long as I'm there, and I'll make sure that I'll be so good at what I do that not a single person will die in front of me!"

The young boy sitting across her watched in awe as the spark in her eyes turned to flames of determination. However, these died down fast when she sighed and suddenly slumped down to her knees, making him sweatdrop.

"Though I say that now... I wonder how long it'll take me to reach my dream?" she mumbled to herself. "I've heard that studying medicine in a normal school takes around fifteen years minimum. But I don't even know if I'll be able to afford attending a normal school at all. I haven't learned that much healing-jutsu, I can only create the basic kinds of medicines which are used for small cuts and light burns; the more complex medicines that I've tried to create only ended up exploding mid-way, and not only that, but my chakra flow is so low that I can't even last ten minutes when using it continuously..."

Gaara sweatdropped even more when an eerie aura started forming around the mumbling girl.

"A-anou.. Kat-chan," he said, reaching out to her unsurely. "It'll be alright. You're just as young as I am and you've got plenty of time ahead of you to work on your dream."

"Hnnh.. I suppose." she sighed. He pulled back his arm when she looked up at him.

"Ne, Gaara-kun, what about you?" she asked innocently. "My dad always told me that everyone has a dream that they want to fulfill; I told you mine, so what's yours?"

He paused, taken aback.

No one had ever asked him that before, and he himself hadn't really thought about what he wanted to be in the future. His on-going childhood had always kept him lonely and confused about his own life; and his family members weren't exactly the type to teach him about dreams, life and love on a one-on-one basis either. He usually relied on Yashamaru to explain the things he didn't understand, but only for a few times. And he didn't want to ask too many questions for fear that his own uncle might get annoyed with him.

He glanced at Kate, who was smiling at him with an eager look on her face, and tried to come up with a good answer.

"I don't really know what my dream is myself. " he finally replied. "I mean, I know I should have one, but I honestly haven't really thought about anything final yet. . "

"Hmmm. . " the girl smiled, understanding.

Gaara just shrugged his shoulders and looked around the room once more. Kate, on the other hand, glanced at the small clock on her desk and her eyes widened.

"G-G-Gaara-kun!" She suddenly exclaimed, surprising him. She grabbed onto his collar with one hand and pointed to her clock with the other in panic. "It's almost 4 am! We've been up all night!"

His eyes were wide from her outburst.

"Your parents must be really, really worried! And all because of me!" she yelled in panic. Then, without a second thought, she grabbed onto Gaara's wrist, pulled him up, and dashed out the door with him flying behind her.

"K-Kat-chan. . " Gaara said softly, slightly amazed that she could run so fast. His feet were off the ground but she hadn't really noticed yet.

"Where do you live, Gaara-kun? Maybe I can help you sneak into your room so no one in your house would notice!" she yelled, not hearing him.

"A-anou, Kat-chan. . " he tried, in a louder voice, but she didn't hear him and headed towards the main entrance of the abandoned factory.

"Kat-chan. . " he tried once more, but she still didn't hear him because she'd started to rant.

"-orry Garra-kun! If you get in trouble because of me, just tell your parents it was my fault and let them punish me, even if I'm not their child! (Eyes widen in realization) Shimatta!! I even let you spend money to buy me all those food! Ugh! I'm such a pig! I'll pay you back, Gaara-kun! Just tell me how much you spent and I'll pay you back when I earn my fir-"

"Kat-chan!" he finally yelled, catching her attention.

She stopped her rant and suddenly ceased her running, causing the poor boy to crash onto her. They both yelped as they tumbled down each step in front of the entrance and groaned when they both finally landed on the flat, sandy road.

"Owowowowow. . " the girl mumbled painfully, wincing as her previous wounds started to throb.

Gaara just groaned in agreement with her pain. (He wasn't hurt, with the sand protecting him and all, but the tumble sure made him dizzy. )

They both sat up side by side, still groaning, and glanced at each other.

"What was that for?!" Kate questioned, still wincing from the pain coming from her head, arms and legs.

"Gomen, " he replied, looking away. "It's just that. . there's no need for me to go home. . yet."

"And why not?" she asked, looking at him seriously.

He didn't reply. Instead, he grabbed onto her wrist and pulled it out to him so he could inspect her arm.

"Your cuts are bleeding again." he stated, completely changing the subject.

Sensing a slight discomfort in his tone, Kate sighed lightly and nodded. He then stood up, scooped her into his arms in one quick motion -making her yelp- and jumped back into the factory.

xoxoxoxoxo

_Back in Kate's room. . ._"Itai!"

". . ."

"Itaaiii! !"

". . . "

". . ."

". . ."

"ITAAIIII! ! !"

"Kat-chan! I can't put this ointment on your wounds if you keep jumping around like that while screaming 'itai!' at me!" Gaara yelled in slight fustration.

"You're making it hurt! I wouldn't be screaming at you if you'd be a little more gentler!" she yelled, closing her eyes when he positioned a cottonball dabbed with ointment over one of her arm wounds.

He huffed and dabbed the cotton over her wound repeatedly until it was fully covered with the ointment while Kate bit her lip to keep herself from screaming out loud. Gaara had no idea how forceful his dabs were; his 'dabs' were him roughly pushing the cottonball hard against her skin, making it sting. A lot.

"Better?" He asked.

"No." She replied flatly.

He pouted at the cottonball on his hand, making her giggle.

"I'm glad I was unconscious when you wrapped me up." she grinned at him in a joking manner, making him pout even more.

"I can't help not being gentle; it's only my second time to help someone clean their wounds." he replied, still pouting at the cottonball. She studied him for a few seconds in silence before she reached out and took the poor cottonball from his hands.

He looked at her, confused.

She then dipped a fresh cottonball in ointment and handed it to him before positioning his hands over a big cut on her left calf. Gently, she wrapped her hands around his and guided them as they began to dab the cottonball onto her wound. At first, it was a bit forceful since Gaara wasn't used to her pace; but after a few tries, his dabs were putting on the same pressure she was: light and painless. When they were halfway done, she let go of his hands and sat back as he continued to apply the ointment onto her cut in light, gentle dabs.

"You weren't screaming anymore." he said softly, after wrapping her leg with a bandage.

"It didn't hurt anymore." she smiled. "Good job."

He smiled shyly and stood up to throw away the used cottonballs and bandages.

"Gaara-kun?" Kate started.

"Hmm?"

"Why did you say that there wasn't a need for you to go home?"

He paused.

"You don't have to answer me if you don't want to." she said softly.

He turned around to look at her, only to see her stiffling a yawn.

"Sleepy?" he asked with a raised 'brow'.

"A little." she replied, smiling slightly as she attempted to rub the sleep from her eyes. "Aren't you?"

"Not really." he shrugged, walking over to the empty spot next to the "bed" she was sitting on.

Her eyes began to droop ever so slightly but she forced herself to keep them open.

"You can go ahead and sleep, Kat-chan. I won't mind." Gaara smiled.

"I don't wanna. . " she replied. "I'll sleep if you sleep too. That way, I'll know that you won't leave me alone."

His eyes widened a little in surprise.

"You w-want me to stay?" he asked in a shaky voice. But the girl was too sleepy to notice and nodded.

"Gaara-kun. . is my . . first friend. . ever. . " her head was drooping down as well as she said this, and Gaara, who had never heard the word "friend" being addressed to him, felt another wave of the same feeling he felt a few hours back when she held his hand.

"I. . don't want. . to be left. . alone. . again. . " she said, trailing off at the last part.

"I'm not going anywhere, Kat-chan." he said shakily. "Go to sleep."

". . . you promise?"

"I promise."

He looked down at her only to see her leaning against his shoulder, fast asleep. His face flushed lightly and he looked away to the clock on her desk-

_**4: 55 am**_

He then stood up, careful as to not wake the sleeping girl, gently lay her down on her 'bed'; _". .Gaara-kun is my first friend. . "_ ; Smiled, and lay on his stomach next to her as he watched her sleep. He then reached out to brush a few stray bangs off her face and smiled even more to himself.

'If I'm Kat-chan's first friend, then she's my first friend too!' he thought happily, for the first time.

He looked out the window and watched the sky slowly turn light as dawn approached.

After a few minutes, he sat up stretched a little before glancing back at the sleeping girl.

'She'll be hungry when she wakes up. I'll need to get some food.' he thought. 'But I promised her I wouldn't go anywhere-'

_-stomach growls-_

". . ."

He put a hand over his own stomach and sighed. Making his decision, he walked over to the window and opened it, looked back at the sleeping figure of the girl and smiled.

"When you wake up, I'll be the first thing you'll see." he promised.

With that, he jumped off.

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A/N Hope you liked that. ^^ R&Rs please!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N This chapter's pretty short coz' I wanted to have Temari, Kanuro and Baki involved already. xD

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**Chapter Three: Found**

Back in the main area of Sunagakure, a tall structure stood its ground at the city's heart: the Kazekage Tower. A ten-year old girl, with blonde hair tied up to four ponytails, ran down a random hallway inside the tower while securing a huge fan safely around her waist. She made a quick turn and stopped in front of two huge doors, pausing to catch her breath. Once she'd regained her composure, she stood up straight and knocked on the wooden doors three times before opening them. Inside, she looked around and realized that the kazekage/her father wasn't there.

"Aah. Good morning, Temari, you're right on time." a tall man wearing a Suna forehead protector said to her. "You just missed your father though."

"Ohaiyo, Baki-san." she greeted politely before sighing. "They told me he had a mission for me."

"It's more of an early-morning chore, actually. For both you and Kankuro." Baki replied, as he turned to face an eight-year old boy sitting on one of the corners of the room. The boy sighed and yawned as he played around with a small, wooden puppet.

"Otousan wants us to find Gaara. Again." he stated in a bored tone.

Temari slapped her forehead and groaned. "Again? I thought he was staying over Yashamaru-ojiisan's place!"

Kankuro just sighed once more before standing up.

"He was, for a few hours." he replied, dusting himself off. "But then he suddenly asked Yashamaru-ojiisan if he could buy something for the other kids he attacked yesterday, some medicine I think, and left for the night market near downtown. Never came back afterwards."

"Yashamaru-san notified your father just a few minutes ago and now, your father wants you to find him and bring him back here for a new mission." Baki stated as he arranged some of the papers on the Kazekage's desk.

"So he was last seen in the night market, right?" Temari asked. "We can start from there then."

"Well, at the moment it's the early morning market." Baki stated. "And some foreign traders from Konohagakure and Takigakure have come to sell some new products so be sure not to cause too much of a commotion that might scare them away, alright?"

"We'll try." she mumbled to herself.

"Wait! Let me get Karasu from my room first!" Kankuro said, running out the doors.

Temari groaned and ran out after him, yelling for him to hurry up.

"Be back before ten!" Baki called out to them before chuckling to himself.

xoxoxoxoxo

_At the marketplace. . ._

Gaara ran around the area looking for something cheap and edible for him and Kate to eat. It was still a dark out but there were a lot of people bustling about, trying to purchase the goods being brought in from the other nations. He ran into a small alley and brought out the remaining cash he had left on him.

"Two. . Two-fifty. . three. ." he paused and smiled to himself. 'I can still buy myself and Kat-chan some cereal and milk for breakfast!' he thought happily.

The mental image of him and a friend having breakfast together on the rooftop of the factory made him excited. He then turned the opposite direction and ran out towards a small store on the other side of the sandy streets while wrapping his cloak around his head. He didn't want anyone catching sight of him wandering alone the marketplace so early in the morning, otherwise he'd be taken to the Kazekage Tower immediately.

Upon entering the store, he quickly ran down the aisles towards the one filled with cereal boxes and grabbed a medium-sized box of chocolate flavored cereal with a free carton of milk taped to its side. He then ran up to the counter and placed the last few coins in his pocket on it, startling the young cashier boy, before leaving the store in a hurried manner. The cashier quickly ran out of the store yelling that he'd forgotten his change, but Gaara had jumped away already.

xoxoxoxoxo

Temari and Kankuro jumped from rooftop to rooftop in search of their youngest sibling, but they just couldn't sense his chakra anywhere. As they jumped, Kankuro yawned once again and looked around sleepily.

"Maybe he went back to Yashamaru-ojiisan's place already." he suggested sleepily.

"If that were true, Yashamaru-ojiisan would've contacted Baki or otousan and sent someone to inform us by now." Temari replied in an annoyed tone. She stopped on one of the rooftops before leaning over its edge to peek at the market scene below.

The traders from Konoha and the Waterfall villages were there, just as Baki had mentioned, but what caught her eye was a small figure running towards an alleyway with a box of cereal tightly clutched to his chest. She then saw the cashier boy yelling at him to come back, and thinking what she was thinking, both Kankuro and Temari jumped from the rooftop in pursuit of the boy.

xoxoxoxoxo

Gaara smiled as he made his way out of the busy marketplace and ran down the road towards the abandoned factory.

'Getting breakfast was easier than I expected!' he thought happily; his mind was too preoccupied with getting back to the factory that he didn't notice his two siblings chasing after him.

He made a quick turn to the left and felt the wind blowing against his face, slowly unwrapping the cloak on his head.

Temari, who was about to yell "stop thief!" at the small figure, gasped and nearly tripped on her own feet when the cloak finally slipped off Gaara's head, revealing the red headed boy she and Kankuro were searching for. She looked back at her other brother with wide eyes only to see that he was just as surprised as she was.

They both halted when they saw him run up the steps of an old abandoned factory and glanced at each other.

"Should we chase after him?" Kankuro asked.

Temari just shook her head 'no' in reply, grabbed onto his wrist and pulled him along with her as she headed towards the entrance of the building.

"Let's see what Gaara's up to first." she said softly.

* * *

R&Rs Please! ^_^


End file.
